This invention relates to dental implants and, more particularly, to dental implants that are easily installed and adapted to be detachably connected to a bridge for artificial teeth.
Dental implants have become a rather standard technique for supporting an artifical tooth structure, e.g. artificial teeth or bridges, in edentulous spans. These implants typically include an implant portion or blade and a neck portion with a cap or post at its end. The blade is inserted directly into the patient's maxillary or mandibular bone where the artifical tooth is to be located. This is accomplished by making an incision in the alveolar tissue over the ridge crest and reflecting the tissue to expose the bone. A burr is then used to create a groove in the bone which is slightly less than the size of the blade. The blade is located in the groove and tapped lightly into the place, where it is held by friction.
Either immediately, or later when bone has regrown about the blade to secure it in place, the artificial tooth or a bridge support structure is fastened to the cap or post, e.g. by cement.
Great care must be taken by the dentist in forming the groove for the blade. Should the groove be too narrow, tapping the blade into place is likely to cause severe trauma to the bone, which may cause the bone to fracture, the implant to come loose and additional bone loss. If it is too wide, there is insufficient contact between the blade and groove, and the blade will not remain in place.
There are available in the prior art, devices that permit the installation of a blade in a groove which is to wide. Typical of these devices are those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,501 of Edelman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,908 of Sneer and U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,192 of Linkow, one of the present inventors. However, even these devices require considerable skill by the oral surgeon for their use.
Even when the implant is successful, it may be necessary for a variety of reasons to remove an artificial bridge supported by the implant. The standard procedure in such a case is to cut the bridge into sections for removal. However, this procedure may unintentionally weaken the implant. Therefore it is desirable to provide a means for removing a bridge structure in one piece from an implant. Such an arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,917 of Leonard Linkow and Leo Hoffman, the present inventors. However, the method and apparatus of that patent require the use of small screws, which may be difficult to reach and manipulate.